2012 June 14

Three weeks ago Mark Ellis underwent emergency leg surgery, narrowly avoiding the potential need for amputation and spending six days in the hospital. And now he’s already back on the field. Alex Angert of MLB.com reports that Ellis has begun hitting in a cage and taking ground balls, and the veteran second baseman called his…

Dusty Baker was reached for comment this morning regarding the Derek Lowe stuff. And he let fire with both barrels. John Fay of Cincinnati.com has the story, with these delicious quotes among others: “I’m not denying nothing. I didn’t order anyone to hit him. I told (Mat Latos) to buzz him and make him uncomfortable.…

Chris Coghlan was demoted to Triple-A in late April after hitting .121 as a part-time player for the Marlins, got recalled three weeks later when they sent down Gaby Sanchez, and is now headed back to the minors after going 9-for-59 (.153) in 20 games since returning. This is the fourth time the Marlins have…

Paul Lukas of Uni Watch, as he often does, asked readers to redesign the Houston Astros uniforms. And, not surprisingly given their name and past colors and iconography readers had to work with, the submissions are fantastic. You can see the ones Lukas likes the best and some of the design flairs he highlights here. All of…

Arm injuries wrecked Ben Sheets‘ career and the four-time All-Star hasn’t pitched in the majors since July of 2010, but he’s still just 33 years old and is apparently making a comeback. Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors reports that Sheets threw for scouts yesterday in Louisiana and the Yankees, Phillies, Braves, and Angels were…

Alex Speier has a great interview up with Theo Epstein over at WEEI today. In it Epstein talks candidly about what went wrong towards the end in Boston. Specifically, how a team that was built into a success with player development and home grown talent got into the business of signing people like John Lackey…

In last night’s Reds-Indians game, Cleveland starter Derek Lowe was brushed back with a mid-90s fastball from Mat Latos. Not something you see happen to a pitcher very often, especially when there were no plunkings of other shenanigans previously. Which, in this game or series, there was not. So what gives? After the game MLB.com’s Jordan…

Lost in the Matt Cain perfect game drama last night was the fact that R.A. Dickey nearly threw a no-hitter of his own. The only blemish: a first inning infield single by B.J. Upton. It was a slow-rolling grounder that Wright tried to barehand and couldn’t. The Mets, however, are trying to get that single changed…

I don’t believe in almost any superstition. There may be an exception or two I’m forgetting, but most of it is hogwash and hoodoo for the feeble-minded. And spare me your Crash Davis “if you believe you’re playing well because you’re getting laid, or because you’re not getting laid, or because you wear women’s underwear,…

Most no-hitters or perfect games have that one moment when you just know, yep, it’s happening. I’d guess that those who saw Matt Cain‘s perfecto live last night will point to Gregor Blanco’s catch of Jordan Schafer’s drive in the seventh inning as that moment: The GIF comes via Grant Brisbee at McCovey Chronicles, who…

Giants 10, Astros 0: A simply unbelievable night for Matt Cain. As we noted last night, this was among the best games ever pitched in the history of baseball. Perfection is one thing. Doing it while striking out 14 is dominant perfection. And don’t try to diminish it by saying “hey, it was the Astros.”…

With his 125-pitch gem against the Astros on Wednesday night, Matt Cain entered the history books, throwing the 20th perfect game since 1900 and 22nd in major league history. Cain struck out 14 in the contest, matching Sandy Koufax’s total on Sept. 9, 1965 for the highest strikeout total in a perfect game. That gave…

Matt Cain turned in one of the most dominant performances in recent memory Wednesday night, going 27 up and 27 down against the Astros for the 22nd perfect game in MLB history. Cain was overpowering with 14 strikeouts, which ties Sandy Koufax for the most ever in a perfect game. And the Giants right-hander also…